No power to cabinet

dreys50 · August 01, 2011, 06:31:16 AM

My OBS is going on about 2.5 years old. Over the weekend I was using it with an Auber controller, like I always do, and at one point going out to check the temp, I saw that there was no power to my cabinet. I am thinking this is a heating element failure, but I am not completely sure.

The orange light does not come on, sliding control is just a hair from being maxed out. The output light on the Auber goes on, but the cabinet is not getting power. The smoke started out fine, went for at least 3 hrs at the temp I wanted it to (225) but once I discovered this, there was no more heating being done as the temp dropped to 130 and below.

Smoker generator works just fine through the Auber setup. I even removed the Auber and set up the Bradley stock and the same thing happened- no power to cabinet but everything else has power.

I checked the manual, and the little bit of trouble shooting in there said to reset the outlet (which I did), and check the fuse (was fine), so that didn't really work.

I plan on calling customer service some time this week if I can manage some free time during their business hours, but in the mean time I wanted to see if anyone on here could give me some input.

TedEbear · August 01, 2011, 06:49:20 AM

Quote from: dreys50 on August 01, 2011, 06:31:16 AMI checked the manual, and the little bit of trouble shooting in there said to reset the outlet (which I did), and check the fuse (was fine), so that didn't really work.

Did you check both fuses? There is a second inline fuse inside the cabinet that you have to remove the back panel to get to. It looks like this:

dreys50 · August 01, 2011, 06:50:14 AM

Did not know about that fuse! Definitely going to check that. Thanks!

dreys50 · August 03, 2011, 06:06:38 AM

I got to the fuse but I am not really familiar with this type, I cant tell if its blown or not just by looking, is this something I need to test with a multimeter?

muebe · August 03, 2011, 06:22:08 AM

Yes.... or you can use a continuity tester. All you are checking for is if the fuse circuit is broken or not. So test for continuity using the multi-meter ;D

GusRobin · August 03, 2011, 06:39:50 AM

if it is blown, you can cut it below the fuse and above the fuse then splice the two ends together. You should be okay with the PID. I had that situation and was able to keep cooking. However, being safety concerned, I did order a new one from yard and pool. Since they were only about $4 I ordered an extra.

TedEbear · August 03, 2011, 11:37:18 AM

Quote from: dreys50 on August 03, 2011, 06:06:38 AM
I got to the fuse but I am not really familiar with this type, I cant tell if its blown or not just by looking, is this something I need to test with a multimeter?

The overtemp sensor is also inline with that fuse. Just connect your multimeter to one end of the fuse and take a continuity reading through it and the sensor. If it reads open then you can further isolate which one is bad.

Here's what the sensor looks like:

dreys50 · August 03, 2011, 05:05:18 PM

There was continuity from the sensor to the upper half of the fuse, but not through the fuse or from the sensor to the lower half of the fuse.

Do I need to unscrew the heating element to get to the connection for the lower end of the wire? Or does the replacement come with instructions about this?

GusRobin · August 03, 2011, 06:02:28 PM

you unscrew the left (as you are looking at it) side of the heating element, take off the fuse wire, push it through the hole. Push the new one through and attach it to the element and tighten the nut.

TedEbear · August 04, 2011, 09:52:29 AM

Quote from: dreys50 on August 03, 2011, 05:05:18 PM
There was continuity from the sensor to the upper half of the fuse, but not through the fuse or from the sensor to the lower half of the fuse.

Do I need to unscrew the heating element to get to the connection for the lower end of the wire? Or does the replacement come with instructions about this?

You do a continuity check from one end of the fuse wire to the other end, through the fuse. While you have the wire off the element you can also check the resistance of it. Be sure at least one end has no wire going to it and take a reading. It should read 27-32 ohms if the element is good.